George Canning

“ Not to keep my readers longer in suspense, the subject of the poem is "The Reformation of the Knave of Hearts." It is not improbable, that some may object to me that a Knave is an unworthy Hero for an Epic Poem; that a Hero ought to be all that is great and good. The objection is frivolous. The greatest work of this kind that the World has ever produced, has "The Devil" for its hero; and supported as my author is by so great a precedent, I contend, that his Hero is a very decent Hero ”

“ Our feelings are all alive—but the Poet, wisely dreading that our sympathy with the injured Queen might alienate our affections from his Hero, contrives immediately to awaken our fears for him, by telling us, that
“The King of Hearts
“Call’d for those Tarts,”—
We are all conscious of the fault of our Hero, and all tremble with him, for the punishment which the enraged Monarch may inflict ”

“ COMMENT
UPON THE
HISTORY
OF
TOM THUMB.
IT is a surprising thing that in an Age so Polite as this, in which we have such a Number of Poets, Criticks and Commentators, some of the best things that are extant in our Language shou'd pass unobserv'd amidst a Croud of inferiour Productions, and lie so long buried as it were, among those that profess such a Readiness to give Life to every thing that is valuable. ”

“ We may observe, that there is nothing in which our Poet has better succeeded, than in keeping up an unremitted attention in his readers to the main instruments, the machinery of his poem, viz. The Tarts; insomuch, that the aforementioned Scriblerus has sagely observed, that "he can't tell, but he doesn't know, but the tarts may be reckoned the heroes of the Poem." Scriblerus, though a man of learning, and frequently right in his opinion, has here certainly hazarded a rash conjecture. ”

“ It has hitherto been customary for all Periodical Writers, to take some opportunity, in the course of their labours, to display their Critical abilities, either by making observations on some popular Author, and work of known character, or by bringing forth the performances of hidden merit, and throwing light on genius in obscurity. To the critiques of The Spectator, Shakespear, and more particularly, Milton, are indebted, for no inconsiderable share of the reputation, which they now so universally enjoy ”

“ I have took a great deal of Pains to set these Matters of Importance in as clear a Light as we Criticks generally do, and shall begin with the first Canto, which treats of our Hero's Birth and Parentage, and Education, with some other Circumstances which you'll find are carry'd on in a manner not very inelegant, and cannot fail to please those who are not Judges of Language, or those who notwithstanding they are Judges of Language, have a genuine and unprejudic'd Tast of Nature. ”

“ It is well known that Addison's essays elicited the immediate objections of Dennis. The Spectator's "Design is to see how far he can lead his Reader by the Nose." He wants "to put Impotence and Imbecility upon us for Simplicity." Later Johnson in his Life of Addison quoted Dennis and added his own opinion of Chevy Chase: "The story cannot possibly be told in a manner that shall make less impression on the mind."
It was fairly easy to parody the ballads themselves, or at least the ballad imitations, as Johnson would demonstrate ex tempore. ”

“ There are Variety of Incidents, dispers'd thro' the whole Series of this Historical Poem, that give an agreeable Delight and Surprise, and are such as Virgil himself wou'd have touch'd upon, had the like Story been told by that Divine Poet, viz. his falling into the Pudding-Bowl and others; which shew the Courage and Constancy, the Intrepidity and Greatness of Soul of this little Hero, amidst the greatest Dangers that cou'd possibly befall him, and which are the unavoidable Attendants of human Life. ”

“ The passage therefore must stand thus,
“The Queen of Hearts
“She made some Tarts,
“All on a Summer’s Day.”
And thus ends the first part, or beginning; which is simple and unembellished; opens the subject in a natural and easy manner; excites, but does not too far gratify our curiosity: for a reader of accurate observation may easily discover, that the Hero of the Poem has not, as yet, made his appearance. ”

“ Some readers may perhaps be offended at his making his entré in so disadvantageous a character as that of a thief. To this I plead precedent.
The Hero of the Iliad, as I observed in a former paper, is made to lament very pathetically,—that "life is not like all other possessions, to be acquired by theft."—A reflection, in my opinion, evidently shewing, that, if he did refrain from the practice of this ingenious art, it was not from want of an inclination that way. We may remember too, that in Virgil's poem, almost the first light in which the Pious Æneas appears to us, is a deer-stealer ”

“ It is impossible that any thing should be universally tasted and approved by a Multitude, tho' they are only the Rabble of a Nation, which hath not in it some peculiar Aptness to please and gratify the Mind of Man.... an ordinary Song or Ballad that is the Delight of the common People, cannot fail to please all such Readers as are not unqualified for the Entertainment by their Affectation or Ignorance. ”

“ A certain great Critick and Schoolmaster who has publish'd such Notes upon Horace as were never seen before, is of Opinion, and has very good Authority for what he says, that 'twas rather an Owl than a Raven; for, as he observes with a wonderful deal of Penetration and Sagacity, our Hero's Shoes were made of a Mouse's Skin which might induce the Owl to run away with him. The Giant, he owns, looks very probable, because we find 'em swallowing People very fast in almost all Romances.
This Canto concludes with our Hero's Arrival at Court ”

“ Tom Thumb his Life and Death, wherein is declar'd his many marvellous Acts of Manhood, full of Wonder and strange Merriment: Then he adds, which little Knight liv'd in King Arthur's Time in the Court of Great Britain. Indeed there are so many spurious Editions of this Piece upon one Account or other, that I wou'd advise my Readers to be very cautious in their Choice, and it would be very wisely done, if they wou'd consult the curious Ælianus concerning this Matter, who has the choicest Collection of any Man in England, and understands the most correct Editions of Books of this Nature. ”

“ The next Canto is the Story of Tom Thumb's being Swallow'd by a Cow, and his Deliverance out of her, which is treated of at large by Giordano Bruno in his Spaccio de la Bestia trionfante; which Book, tho' very scarce, yet a certain Gentleman, who has it in his Possession, has been so obliging as to let every Body know where to meet with it. ”

“ But if we reflect on the Obedience due to Parents, as our Author undoubtedly did, and the Necessities those People labour'd under, we cannot but admire at his ready Compliance with what could by no Means be agreeable to the Heroical Bent of his Inclinations, and perceive what a tender Regard he had for the Wellfare of his Family, when he took the strictest Care imaginable for the Preservation of the Hog-Pudding. ”

“ We are now come to the denouèment, the setting all to rights: and our Poet, in the management of his moral, is certainly superior to his great ancient 144 predecessors. The moral of their fables, if any they have, is so interwoven with the main body of their work, that in endeavouring to unravel it, we should tear the whole. Our Author has very properly preserved his whole and entire for the end of his poem, where he completes his main design, the Reformation of his Hero, thus ”

“ The following Part of this Canto is the Relation of our Hero's being put into a Pudding, and convey'd away in a Tinker's Budget; which is design'd by our Author to prove, if it is understood literally, That the greatest Men are subject to Misfortunes. But it is thought by Dr. B—tly to be all Mythology, and to contain the Doctrine of the Transmutation of Metals, and is design'd to shew, that all Matter is the same, tho' very differently Modified. He tells me, he intends to publish a distinct Treatise of this Canto ”

“ It is a rule in Logic, and I believe may hold good in most other Sciences, that "omne majus continet in se minus," that "every thing larger can hold any thing that is less;" but I own, I never heard the contrary advanced or defended with any plausible arguments, viz. "that every little thing can hold one larger." ”

“ A man guilty of breaking these, though he cannot be transported for a felon, or indicted for treasonable practices, is yet, in the High Court of Custom, branded as a flagrant offender against decorum, as notorious for an unprecedented infringement on propriety. ”

“ I shall now proceed in the more immediate examination of the poem in its different parts. The beginning, say the Critics, ought to be plain and simple; neither embellished with the flowers of poetry, nor turgid with pomposity of diction. In 134 this how exactly does our Author conform to the established opinion! he begins thus,
“The Queen of Hearts
“She made some Tarts”—
Can any thing be more clear! ”

“ The very "matter" of Tom Thumb reappeared under the same light in Fielding's Tragedy of Tragedies or the Life and Death of Tom Thumb the Great with the Annotations of H. Scriblerus Secundus, 1731. Addison's criticism of the ballads was scarcely a legitimate object for this kind of attack, but Augustan satire and parody were free and hospitable genres, always ready to entertain more than one kind of "bard and blockhead side by side."6
No less a person than George Canning (as a schoolboy) was the author of the second of the two parodies reproduced in the present volume. ”

“ But Hiccius Doctius, a High Dutch commentator, one nevertheless well versed in British literature, in a note of his usual length and learning, has confuted the arguments of Scriblerus. In support of the present reading, he quotes a passage from a poem written about the same period with our author's, by the celebrated Johannes Pastor*, intituled "An Elegiac Epistle to the Turnkey of Newgate," wherein the gentleman declares, that rather indeed in compliance with an old custom, than to gratify any particular will of his own, he is going ”

“ A page or two of irony concerning the "plain and simple" opening of the poem seems to hark back to something more subtle in the Augustans than the Wagstaffian derision, no doubt to Pope's victory over Philips in a Guardian on pastorals. "There is no task more difficult to a Poet, than that of Rejection. Ovid, among the ancients, and Dryden, among the moderns, were perhaps the most remarkable for the want of it."12
The interest of these little pieces is historical13 in a fairly strict sense. ”

“ And how naturally and poetically does he describe the Modesty of the Man, who wou'd be content, if Merlin wou'd grant him his Request, with a Son no bigger than his Thumb.
The Two next Stanza's carry on the Idea with a great deal of Probability and Consistence; and to convince the World that he 10 was born to be something more than Man, he produces a Miracle to bring him into it. ”

“ I hope no Body will be offended at my asserting Things so positively, since 'tis the Priviledge of us Commentators, who understand the meaning of an Author Seventeen Hundred Years after he has wrote, much better than ever he cou'd be suppos'd to do himself. And certainly, a 22 Critick ought not only to know what his Authors Thoughts were when he was Writing such and such Passages, but how those Thoughts came into his Head, where he was when he wrote, or what he was doing of ”

“ I have therefore been prevented from affording them the assistance I wished; and cannot help wondering, that the gentlemen did not consider, that it was impossible for me to provide typical references for feigned names; as, for ought I know, the person who signs himself Tom Long may not be four feet high; Philosophus may be possessed of a considerable share of folly ”

“ And it was just as easy to parody ballad criticism. The present volume is an anthology of two of the more deserving iv mock-criticisms which Addison's effort either wholly or in part inspired.
An anonymous satirical writer who was later identified, on somewhat uncertain authority, as the Tory Dr. William Wagstaffe was very prompt in responding. His Comment Upon the History of Tom Thumb appeared in 1711 perhaps within a week or two of the third guilty Spectator (June 7) and went into a second edition, "Corrected," by August 18. ”

“ It may not however be useless to offer some general reflections for all who may require them. 147 It is not improbable, that, as the subject of their poems is the Restoration, many of my fellow-citizens may choose to adorn their title-pages with the representation of His Majesty, Charles the Second, escaping the vigilance of his pursuers in the Royal Oak. ”

“ The case for Wagstaffe is put by Nicholas Moore in a letter to The Athenaeum, June 10, 1882 and in his article on Wagstaffe in the DNB. Paul V. Thompson, "Swift and the Wagstaffe Papers," Notes and Queries, 175 (1938) , 79, supports the notion of Wagstaffe as an understrapper of Swift. The negative part of Dilke's thesis is perhaps the more plausible. A Comment Upon Tom Thumb, as Dilke himself confesses (Papers, p. 377) , scarcely sounds very much like Swift.
4. Text, p. 6. The nursery rhyme Tom Thumb, His Life and Death, 1630, and the augmented History of Tom Thumb, c. ”